First Line Friday — The Paris Kitchen

Happy Friday! For about two months my life has been one long road trip. We have made numerous trips to Mississippi due to my MIL falling and fracturing her leg. She is recovering, but slowly. Those trips will continue for the foreseeable future. We also went to Virginia to help our son and his family with a move back to that part of the country. I wish they were closer, but so glad we can still travel. I’ve listened to a lot of general market mysteries that my husband and I like, though they probably won’t show up here on the blog. IYKYK. 😉 But I have also read a lot of books too. Stay tuned for reviews in the coming weeks and months.

Today I am featuring The Paris Kitchen by Kristy Cambron. I look forward to reading this book — Jullia Child makes an appearance!

Here’s the first line:

Prologue

24 December 1943

Chateau du Broutes Rue, France

What would a French glamour girl wear to stash weapons in the dead of winter besides a haute couture gown?

As Paris rebuilds in the aftermath of World War II, Kat Fontaine never expected the skills she learned in a French chateau kitchen to be the key that unlocks the secrets swirling in her new post-war life.

Paris, 1952–Still haunted by the years she spent serving in the American Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during WWII, ex-pat Kat Fontaine, now living in Paris, finds a simple cookery class led by indomitable chef Julia Child unearths the tangle of gut-wrenching memories of war. Determined to find her brother who went missing during the war and is presumed dead, Kat questions everything, especially her high-ranking society husband whose past is as murky as her own. But when the puzzle pieces start to come together–and her carefully crafted Paris world begins to fall apart–Kat must confront her own secrets against the mounting suspicions of the husband she thought she knew . . .

Rue, 1943–Deep in the heart of Nazi-controlled northern France, Manon Altier shifts between working for the enemy by day–as a French chef at the famous Chateau du Broutel, where names like Himmler, Rommel, and Goebbels frequent the guest list–and running with underground networks against the Vichy regime at night. Working undercover to filter critical information to agents within the burgeoning OSS presence in France, Manon digs deep into the glitz and glamour of a Nazi stronghold that has her teetering on the edge of being discovered at any turn. But when an intriguing stranger appears at the chateau claiming to work with the French Resistance, Manon must lean on her instincts to judge whether to run and hide or stand firm–even as a terrifying discovery tests her resolve to continue the fight.

From the heights of culinary cuisine in 1950s Paris society to the underbelly of a WWII spy network embedded deep within Nazi-controlled Vichy France–and the spy backstory of the world’s most famous would-be French chef, Julia Child–The French Kitchen turns up the heat on the pasts of women whose worlds collide, and forces each to question what she thought she’d planned for a perfect future.

KRISTY CAMBRON is a USA Today bestselling author who writes from the space where beauty, art, and history intersect. She’s an award-winning author of historical fiction, including her internationally bestselling novels, THE BUTTERFLY AND THE VIOLIN and THE PARIS DRESSMAKER, as well as nonfiction titles. Her work has been named to Cosmopolitan’s Best Historical Fiction Novels, Library Journal’s Best Books, and has been featured at People Magazine, Once Upon a Book Club Box, Frolic, Book Club Girl, BookBub, and Country Woman magazine.

Her new novel, THE FRENCH KITCHEN is available now — in which an ex-pat wife haunted by her experiences as an undercover agent in the American OSS during WWII crosses paths with chef Julia Child in a post-war Paris cookery class, complicating the carefully constructed high-society world she’s built to hide her past.

Kristy holds a degree in art history/research writing and spent fifteen years in education and leadership development for a Fortune 100 corporation, partnering with such companies as the Disney Institute, IBM/Kenexa, and Gallup before stepping away to pursue her passion for storytelling. She’s also served as Vice President and a literary agent with Gardner Literary.

Kristy lives in Indiana with her husband and three basketball-loving sons, where she can probably be bribed with a peppermint mocha latte and a good read.

Tags: historical fiction, Kristy Cambron